[OSList] OST / Gaming

Fri Oct 25 07:58:10 PDT 2013

Harold, my friend! I don't bite. Really! Conversation #2 is not only
welcome, but essential. You may have heard me say something like, "Anybody
with a good head and a good heart can do the job. And it may well take you a
lifetime to learn how to do it really well." I do think both are true. But I
am not sure that the "content" of all that learning is fundamentally about
"tradecraft" ... things to do when opening space. To be sure there are some
necessary practicalities like: How much wall space do you need? Number of
breakouts? Meals and such? But the critical part (for me at least) comes
from a rather different realm. Dan raised the question - Is Open Space a
spiritual practice? That has certainly been my experience and the learnings
have been much more about Not Doing. For most of us it is really hard to let
go of outcomes, being totally present and absolutely invisible, and all that
stuff. I guess if I were to start doing training programs once again, the
design might look something like Part I "Practicalities - room setup,
harvesting, etc." That would be the short part, then we would get down to
the real work which might look something like a full day in silent
meditation - Part II.

So I definitely think Wikipedia could do it, but even that might be a bit of
overkill. When it comes to Part II.....

Harrison

Harrison Owen

7808 River Falls Dr.

Potomac, MD 20854

USA

189 Beaucaire Ave. (summer)

Camden, Maine 04843

Phone 301-365-2093

(summer)  207-763-3261

www.openspaceworld.com 

www.ho-image.com (Personal Website)

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From: oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org
[mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org] On Behalf Of Harold Shinsato
Sent: Thursday, October 24, 2013 8:53 PM
To: OSLIST
Subject: Re: [OSList] OST / Gaming

"our current discussion of Gaming (Game theory, Finite and Infinite Games,
etc). [...] I still don't understand how it advances our understanding of
our world as encountered in Open Space, and more specifically, how it
enables me to more effectively navigate that world for myself, and with
others, who may choose the journey."

There are two beautifully contradictory answers to this:

1) It makes no difference.
2) It makes worlds and worlds of difference.

I experience much truth in both answers. And looking at those "answers" as
conversations, there are many more questions in each answer. Are both
conversations truly welcome?

Let me speak to conversation one. People encountering Open Space for the
first time don't need more than those 10-15 minutes to be invited to play in
it. In fact, adding much more to those minutes usually starts crowding out
the voice of the new person being invited in.

What about people wanting to facilitate Open Space? There are multiple
books. Multiple trainings. Does one really need more than the description of
OST on wikipedia to do it? If that becomes an excuse for not setting up an
Open Space that's ready to happen - then I say the answer is No No No!
You're ready, you can do it, you can learn as you go.

I'm sure I could go on and on with scenarios where more than the basics is
not helpful.

That said, I'm still wishing there were more space for conversation 2. Hey,
maybe I'm hallucinating, but it's persistently feeling like the people in
conversation one are saying "You shouldn't be in conversation two".
Psychological safety? I'm not feeling it.

    Harold

On 10/24/13 2:38 PM, Harrison Owen wrote:

Anne - I noticed your pebble! And I think you are dead right. Magnificent,
complex, living systems simply defy capture in a single frame. It isn't
their problem, it is the problem of our language... always too small to do
the job. But I don't see that as a "problem" either. For me it is really an
opportunity and an invitation to keep framing and reframing. It just gets
richer, and the conversation continues. I think we only get in trouble when
we (whoever "we" is) get stuck in the "one right way" syndrome. Even
controversy is valuable, if only because it offers the chance to refine our
pictures. And best of all, allows us to hold several pictures at the same
time... especially when they are contradictory. Sort of the Wave and
Particle kind of thing. It is always tempting to ask which one is the right
one? And the answer is clearly, Both. It just depends on how you are looking
at things. Marvelous!

All that said, I do have to confess to being a died in the wool, American
Pragmatist. I can usually always see the value of somebody else's picture,
but then I have to ask - What does it do? What does it do to enable me to
perform some needed function, understand my current reality with greater
clarity, get on with the business, so to speak. I also find it useful to
combine pragmatism with a good dose of Occam's Razor - AKA The Law of
Parsimony. There are lots of ways of describing the "law" - but it could be,
"How can you say the most with the fewest words?" 

I suppose that is just academic obfuscation... but it does have a lot to do
with our current discussion of Gaming (Game theory, Finite and Infinite
Games, etc). I know a fair amount of the literature, have used the approach
in multiple situations creating policy and practice... and I still don't
understand how it advances our understanding of our world as encountered in
Open Space, and more specifically, how it enables me to more effectively
navigate that world for myself, and with others, who may choose the journey.
Doubtless this is a case of the hardening of the senile neuro-pathways, but
that is where I is.

Thanks for the Pebble!

Harrison

-- 
Harold Shinsato
harold at shinsato.com
http://shinsato.com
twitter: @hajush <http://twitter.com/hajush> 

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